Settling In

 I warned about disappearing for weeks at a time and it didn't take long to
prove true. I beg extenuating circumstances...saying good-bye, packing,
 flying, staying a week in Addis to re-supply and get some things done,
>driving two days home and arriving to find the radio (our main mode of
communication) broken. Thankfully Papa Swart is fixer-extraordinaire and was
able to figure out the problem and fix it. Back online...well, as online as
 we get down here.

 Settling in has been interesting. It feels good to be in our own space,
 dirty as it may be...part of settling in is readjusting expectations of what
 being clean means. I received a major gift from Caleb's parents--they
 insisted that they make the trip from Addis down to Omo one day before us,
 so that they could clean out the houses and put the boat back in the river
 before we got here. I really can't quite imagine what it would have been
 like to arrive here with Daisy and try to get everything cleaned up. It's a
 heck of a job, and Caleb's parents did it all for us. It was such a relief
 to come home to a cleaned up house and a cold fridge and a cooked meal.

Daisy is a hit here. Everyone loves her. She's pretty much the first white
 baby the Daasanech have ever seen. Settling in with Daisy has been fun in
 that regard but kind of miserable otherwise. She's hot. And she won't sleep.
 And she misses her swaddler. But she's too hot to swaddle. So she's
 requiring a lot more attention than usual, at a time when I have a lot more
 things to do every day. Poor baby. We'll figure it out.

 Ezra is happy. This is pretty much boy heaven so he's having a ball. He's
 been helping Caleb and running around outside and learning to ride the 50.
 He's good.

 Elsa misses her cousins. She's slightly out of sorts. I think she is happy
 to be home, but it's been harder for her to adjust to the different pace of
 this life. She really thrived on having people to see and places to go
 everyday and we don't really offer that here. Again--so thankful for
 Grandma. She's giving Elsa lots of special love.

 It was really a strange feeling, driving home. It almost felt like we'd just
 been gone on a normal supply trip and only been away a week or two. I had to
 continually remind myself how much time has passed. Arriving home was
 beautiful. Our area had a lot of much rain while we were
 away--uncharacteristic amounts. So the tiny little flame and neem trees that
 we'd planted around our house had exploded with growth in our absence and
 now I have these beautiful trees outside my windows. Our workers did an
 amazing job keeping up our compound while we were away and everything looks
 beautiful.

So we've been home a week and I'm sure it'll still take time to settle in
completely--find our routines once again. It'll help once Daisy starts
 sleeping more than 35 minutes at a stretch. We went out to church this
 morning and she nearly caused a riot with everyone wanting to see her and
touch her. It was sweet to see all of the familiar faces of our friends and
 neighbors.

35 minutes are up. Gotta go get the babe.